Which ECs did you have as a prospective mechanical engineering major at a top college?
It would be especially helpful if you could suggest any relevant extracurriculars I could take part in as an international student with 0 opportunities in my country.
Thank you!!
What year are you in school? (What is your time horizon for applying to college?)
I think that admissions officers are not necessarily looking for specific ECs related to mechanical (or other) engineering, but are looking for someone whose ECs reflect commitment in something. There is an old saying about a river being “a mile wide and an inch deep”; applied to ECs, it means lots of ECs without much investment of time or effort in any one of them. I think that admissions officers would prefer applicants who are involved in fewer activities but more in depth in those activities. For example, my son was accepted to several engineering programs (including ME) with a fewer number of ECs but ones that he participated in for multiple years: 5 years of being on the school’s robotics team, and 4 years of being on the school’s wrestling team. (These schools probably weren’t what you would consider as “top schools” but it wasn’t his lack of ECs that kept him out of those schools.)
Can you find ECs where you have the opportunity to display leadership? To show involvement on a continued basis? To show that you are passionate about something? To demonstrate that you are a hard worker/good employee?
Also, don’t obsess on getting into “a top college” for ME. Many universities have very good ME programs even if they don’t have the cachet of being “a top school” (whatever that means). Broaden your search to include more than just the “top schools”.
Do ECs that you enjoy and feel you can make a meaningful contribution to.
Some top universities admit by major or by faculty (such as the faculty of engineering). Some top universities (MIT, Stanford, and Harvard come to mind) do not admit by major. For undergraduate students, you are (or are not) accepted to the school as a whole.
For MIT, Stanford, and Harvard the appropriate ECs for engineering would be exactly the same as the appropriate ECs for any other major.
At least my understanding is that the top universities want ECs that show that you can do well at whatever you choose to do. A part time job is an EC. Chess club is an EC (I am guessing there is probably someone who plays chess in your country). Being a tutor is an EC. If you do any one of these, top schools would expect that you do it well.
Our approach has been to do what is right for us. This has at least worked well for my family. This approach also seems to be consistent with the following blog from MIT admissions.
I was at MIT a long time before the person who wrote the blog. However, what he recommends is pretty much what I did.